October 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

@katharmonic Your poor friend probably thought you’d had a stroke!

Speaking of Strava, I can’t remember the last time it worked properly for me. Today it cut out so often that it only recorded half the distance my husband got on his watch, on the same run. I looked back at last month and it has been almost every run for a month.

Today was speedwork, which consisted of a mile time trial to figure out where we stand right now and some intervals. Last year we did a challenge which was a mile time trial followed by a month training plan and a second time trial - our initial mile at the beginning of last year’s challenge was 8:24 if I remember right, and we ended up not that much faster due to an injury. PR mile time is just under 8 minutes at the end of last year. So, today we did 8:43 - not great but not too shameful considering it was net uphill and we haven’t done much running this summer. And also we are both carrying about five pounds more. Got our work cut out for us.

Fortunately we were NOT in the middle of our time trial when we encountered our daily snake, because as it was I barely braked in time to avoid stepping on him and if I had been running hard it would have happened! A smallish copperhead was stretched out at the side of the trail, mingling with leaves and gravel, and my husband has a bad habit of shoving me off the trail when we run side by side. He runs on the left and is supposed to drop back so we go in single file when someone passes, but he tends to just crowd me off the trail instead. Fortunately I noticed that the stick coming up on the right as a bicycle passes us looked a bit suspicious! Yiped, jumped backwards, and bubba decided to follow me into middle of the trail! He wasn’t particularly aggressive but he locked eyes with me and kept following me around and would not get out of our way. Go away, Mister! I got no quarrel with you!

We waved down a couple of careless bicycles which would have put an end to Mister Snake, and eventually he crossed the trail and went away.

(Snake trigger warning)

October 1 – 5.14
October 2 – 22.24
October 3 – 5.14
October 4 – 3.01

I almost stepped on a huge toad in the middle of the road this morning. Thankfully, I was looking down when my light shone on him and I was able to side step him. Makes me think about all the other times I’ve heard the crunch of a “leaf” under foot….

After I typed above, I read @rheddmobile’s encounter with almost stepping on a copperhead and grateful mine was not venomous!

10x400s this morning with a target of 1:34 (6:18/mile):
1:33.9 ✅, 1:32.2 ✅, 1:32.8 ✅, 1:34.2 ❌, 1:33.3 ✅, 1:31.2 ✅, 1:30.7 ✅, 1:30.6 ✅, 1:30.8 ✅, 1:30.2 ✅

I have to figure out how the weather looks for the rest of the week to figure out where the rest day will go.

10/1- 7.6 miles
10/2- 4.05 miles
10/3- 14 miles
10/4- 4 miles
10/5- 8 miles (1:09:21 total, 8:40/mile overall)

October To-Date: 37.65 miles
October Target: 185 miles
Percentage Complete: 20.35%
On-Pace?: 7.8 miles ahead of pace

johnisrunning wrote: »

10x400s this morning with a target of 1:34 (6:18/mile):
1:33.9 ✅, 1:32.2 ✅, 1:32.8 ✅, 1:34.2 ❌, 1:33.3 ✅, 1:31.2 ✅, 1:30.7 ✅, 1:30.6 ✅, 1:30.8 ✅, 1:30.2 ✅

Really nice consistency there on the quarters with the final ones being faster. Well done.

Teresa502 wrote: »

October 1 – 5.14
October 2 – 22.24
October 3 – 5.14
October 4 – 3.01

I almost stepped on a huge toad in the middle of the road this morning. Thankfully, I was looking down when my light shone on him and I was able to side step him. Makes me think about all the other times I’ve heard the crunch of a “leaf” under foot….

After I typed above, I read @rheddmobile’s encounter with almost stepping on a copperhead and grateful mine was not venomous!

I just keep telling myself it was just a leaf or an acorn... even when there are snails and slugs all over the sidewalk. I dedinitely try to avoid them, but realistically it's not always going to be possible. *shudder*

I went out cross country today in search of new paths... found what would be a nice shortcut through the woods in-between lakes, but halfway through I saw some sort of encampment ahead - tarp tent etc, probably a fisherman as there are always guys fishing in that area, but going into someone's camp alone in the woods is a big NOPE for me, so I turned and went another way. The other path I tried headed towards that mud bog field I went through not long ago, but this time I turned the other way. That tractor path was pretty small and I was afraid of stepping on whatever was planted in the field, so it wasn't the best either. The new paths were kind of meh, but it is really pretty out and Fall is officially on. I enjoyed being away from regular roads. We don't get as much color variety in the leaves as back in Pennsylvania, but the yellows are pretty here.

Nothing was working today - I had one thing to do on my computer, which initially worked up until I had to attach receipts to an online insurance form and hit "submit"... but then the internet cut out, the wireless doesn't work on it and from then on, every time I plugged in the Ethernet cable, every device in the house lost internet, including the computer. Reset everything, couldn't get internet back on the computer. Guess I'll try again tomorrow, and I hope it saved what I had already entered. When I rode my bike the 1 mile round trip to the school, I got back and had to use my inhaler before I could make lunch. Then I got a big headache. But one girl from running club was going to be running, so I took ibuprofen (not good before running, but I have no current injuries to pay attention to and my really head hurt) and went to meet her. It was exactly what I needed, because I feel so much better now.

I tried uploading pictures, but the internet is acting up again. Probably won't be able to even post this. Sigh.

Re: treadmills. I spent my road bike money on one during the total lockdown and do use it for speedwork during winter, as well as other runs when it's too icy to run, or when air quality is bad. Which is all winter-time. It's been covered with plastic for months. I watch trail videos while running. And I have forest wallpaper in front of and beside me when I'm on it, so I can imagine I'm somewhere else.

5 miles this morning.

Yesterday & today I'm pretty sure I side stepped a potato on the sidewalk. Yesterday I thought it was a rock until right on top of it. Then I forgot about it and again thought it was a rock.

30/48.2 + ??